County Commissioner Smith wins colleagues’ support for removal of as much sediment as feasible from Phillippi Creek
After hearing pleas that morning for more extensive dredging of Phillippi Creek than planned for the project they recently approved, the Sarasota County commissioners on Nov. 5 voted unanimously to direct Stormwater Department Director Ben Quartermaine and his staff to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on modifying the agency’s Oct. 8 permit to allow the maximum amount of sediment removal possible.
Altogether, nine people addressed the board members during the Open to the Public comment period that day, noting that the USACE permit does not allow the width of the county’s dredging initiative to exceed 50 feet, and it does not include the provision for the contractor to pull out materials that have filled up what are called the “oxbows” in the Southgate community. Over the years, as residents have testified, those channels of the canal have become so clogged with sediment that people can walk on them. Commissioner Mark Smith has talked about having stood on them in surveying the area at homeowners’ requests.
However, following a discussion that included not only Quartermaine, but also County Attorney Joshua Moye, the commissioners pulled back from asking Quartermaine to work with the USACE to try to enable a contractor to dredge the canal “from seawall to seawall,” as residents had phrased their request…